Meet Jonathan McMahon, the man with the hottest skillset in Ireland

If you’re wondering what sort of person is particularly sought after in Irish financial services at the moment, you could do worse than looking at the CV of Jonathan McMahon, the former head of financial institutions for the Central Bank of Ireland.

McMahon has just moved to Mazars, the accounting firm, as global head of bank regulation and restructuring.  He’ll be based in the UK, but his knowledge of the Irish banking sector is likely to be an asset in years to come.

Yesterday, finance minister Michael Noonan said Ireland will seek an alternative way of reducing the bailout costs for Anglo Irish if attempts to change the terms of its promissory note aren’t successful. A far more fundamental restructuring of the former AIB’s debt could be on the cards if Spanish banks are bailed out directly by the European Union.

If this comes to pass, financial services restructuring experience like McMahon’s will be invaluable. Rudi Lang, UK head of banking at Mazars certainly seems keen to have him. Announcing his arrival, she said: “Financial services companies are facing an unprecedented tsunami of regulatory and financial change. When it comes to helping our clients to address this situation successfully Jonathan’s background and expertise speaks for itself."

Before spending two years at the Central Bank, McMahon set up consulting firm Promontory Financial’s UK office and was secretary to Howard Davies at the Financial Services Authority in the UK. He studied at St. Andrews University.

Last year, McMahon said it was imperative that Ireland’s banks hired in some new people. “We need some new blood in the banks themselves,” he told Financial News, “people who can turn them around. In the years preceding the crisis, when money was being made hand over fist in real estate, there wasn’t enough investment in the back office. We’re trying to change the infrastructure, and the culture, and we’re in the early stages of that.”